Multiple selective ball point pen



April 30, 1957 H. GRUMBACH, 2ND MULTIPLE SELECTIVE BALL POINT PEN Filed Aug. 27, 1955 4. 9 J9 g v v 27 f 5% v J26 fzwezzioz? v Grzzmfiac/zZ ilnited States Patent MULTIPLE SELECTIVE'BALL POINT PEN Henry Grumbach, 2nd, Chicago, 111.; Lillian Hayashi Grurnbach, administratrix of said Henry Grnrnbach, 2nd, deceased Application August 27, 1953, Serial No. 376,908

3 Claims. (Cl. lie-42.13)

It is an important object of my invention to provide a compact multiple pen or pencil in which the main barrel carries a plurality of slidably mounted ink tubes or pens or pencils which may vary as to color or type, and which has manually operable selector means for positioning and projecting any one of the enclosed pens or pencils into writing position.

A further object of my invention is the provision of multi-color pens or pencils as aforesaid and having means for easily retracting each projected pen and means for retaining the retracted enclosed pens or ball point elements in inner position within the barrel; and which has means providing for quick and easy replacement of any of said pens, pencils or ball point tubes.

Other and further objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claims.

On the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section taken on a longitudinal plane of my multiple pen.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the upper portion of my pen looking at the outside thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on a horizontal plane indicated by line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on a horizontal plane indicated by line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation looking at the top of my pen.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross section on a vertical plane of a segment of Fig. l in the areaof the operating member.

Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on line 77 of Fig. 1.

As shown on the drawings:

Numeral 10 designates an elongated substantially cylindrical casing, body, or barrel which may be made of metal, plastic or the like. Said casing 10 has a lower or forward reduced end portion 11 which partially defines an inner recess 12 and a shoulder face 12a, and a lower connecting recess 12b. A passage or aperture 13 connects recess 12b with the outside of the casing. An inwardly projecting annular shoulder 12c is formed in the lower casing portion as shown in Fig. I. Said casing defines the elongated chamber 14.

The opposite end of casing 10 has external threads 15 formed thereon, and a centrally passaged cap 16 having internal threads is removably threaded on the threaded end of casing 10. Cap 16 has a recess .17 therein into which an abutment of the head is adapted to seat as hereinafter described.

A rotatable mounting frame or rack 18 has a pair of spaced apart hubs, spiders or rings 19 and 21 which are of a size to loosely fit within chamber 14 of casing 10. Said hubs or rings have a plurality (preferably four) of aligned apertures, holes or recesses therein which 2,790,422 Patented Apr. 30, 1957 open on the periphery of said hubs as illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, and 7.

Numeral 24 designates a head preferably made of plastic or metal in whose central portion is secured the upper end of a stem 23 which is preferably formed integral with mounting frame 18. A thrust washer 22 is'mounted on stem 23 a short distance from head 24 and a metal'expansion spring 25 is interposed between washer 22 and cap 16 and about the upper end of said stem. Said spring normally presses the frame 18 and the ball point holders therein downwardly so that they are maintained under tension.

Referring to Figures 6 and 1, barrel 10has an elongated longitudinal slot 29 therein. A V-shaped or yoke-shaped operating member 28 preferably formed'of metal, has an inner recess forming an inwardly facing shoulder 28a, and its outer portion forms -a clip to engage a jacket or the like. Member 28 is slidably mounted in slot 29 for both vertical and limited transverse movement.

An angular metal pawl or dog 27 is mounted in a recess of the wall of barrel 10 and below the lower end of slot 29 and with its main portion extending inwardly as shown in Figures 6 and 1. The lower end of the inner leg of member 28 is adapted to engage the inner end of any one of the ball point pencils, which are manually positionable in alignment with said leg and with the passage 13, such positioning being by normal rotation of head 29 and frame 18.

A curved thin metal leaf spring 30 is secured by a pin or rivet 31 to the inner face of the outer leg of operating member 28, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 6. Said spring normally urges the member 28 outwardly and 'normally maintains the shoulder 28a and member 28. in engagement with pawl 27 is shown in Figure 1.

The ball pointed pens or pencils, which are preferably four, are designated as.32, 33, 34, and 35, respectively, and these are of the conventional replaceable type, each having a reduced metal enclosed writing point as illustrated. Each of said ball pointed pens is of a size to looselyfit into the respective pairs of aligned apertures or recesses of the hubs or rings 19 and 21. Each of said pens has a transversely extending pin or projection 36 secured thereon a short distance above the normally lower end of each of said pens, as illustrated in Figure 1. An

expansible metal coil spring 37 is interposed between a pin 36 and the inner end face of the hub or ring 19, about each of said pens. Said springs normally retract and hold the pens in upper retracted position, as shown at the right of Figure 1, except that any one of said pens may be projected to the down position, shown at the left of Figure l, by manually downward movement of operating member 28 to cause the inner end of said member to push the butt end of an aligned pencil into writing position with its ball point projecting beyond the reduced 7 tapered end of the multiple pencil.

As shown in Figures 1 and 7a metal retaining collar 38, having an open recess, is mounted about the stem 41 between an annular projection 39 and'a pin 40, this being at a position where it will be engaged by the upper butt ends of the ball point elements to thereby prevent such ball point elements from being moved too far upwardly due to the action of springs 37.

The head 24 preferably has suitable 'indicia thereon at positions aligned with the pens, forexample, letters '42,

such as B, R, G, and'BL, to indicate respective colors or color of inks of the pencils, such as black, red, green, and blue, or to identify to the user the positions of the respective vari-colored writing elements. 7

When all of the pens or pencils are retracted, and the operating member 28 is in upper position, the user will first rotate the head 24, frame 18 and connecting stem 41 to align the desired pencil with the passage 13 and with the inner end port-ion 'of the operating member 28. Thereupon the user will slide the operating member 23 in Ianormally downward position to project the aligned pen or'pencil against the action of its spring 37 and to project its writing point beyond the passage 13, whereupon the action of the leaf spring 30 will move the inner portion of the operating member outwardly to cause the shoulder 28a to be engaged by the end of the pawl 27. Such projected operating position of the writing element will continue until the user desires to retract the projected pencil, and thereupon the user may select and project any oneof the other pens or pencilsrto Writing position in the manner described.

When it is desired to'remove and replace any one of the said pens or pencils, the user will unscrew the cap 16 from barrel it) While the writing elements are all retracted, and then pull the head 24, stem 41, and'frame 18 outwardly from the open end of the barrel, suliicicntly to permit manual gripping of the one or more pens or pencils desired to be removed or replaced. The user will then pull and slide out the recessed collar 38 in a transverse direction. A new pen or pencil may be quickly and easily inserted into any pair of the aligned openings or passages of hubs or rings 21 and 19 and into and through the particular coil spring 37. Thereupon the metal collar 38 is replaced under the pin 44 and the frame 18 remounted in the barrel and the cap 16 resecured by rethreading it into normal mounted position.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and as many apparently Widely different embodiments of my invention within the scope of the claims could be constructed without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. i

I claim: 7

1. In a multi-c'olored ball point pencil; an elongated cylindrical casing havinga passaged, reduced forward end portion and an internal annular shoulder adjacent the reduced forward end portion; a cap on the opposite end of said casing having a central aperture therethrough; a mounting frame having a plurality of circumferentially, spaced apart passages therein adapted to bear against said internal annular shoulder; a manually rotatable head adjacent said cap; a stem connecting the center of said head and said mounting fname whereby rotation of said head efieets rotation of said mounting frame, said head being adapted to frictionally engage said cap when said frame engages said shoulder; resilient means yieldably urging said frame and head into frictional engagement with said shoulder and cap, respectively; a plurality of ball point pencils slidably mounted in said passages 'of said frame, said pencils being movable relative to said frame between retracted positions and extended positions wherein they project through said passaged forward end portion; spring means yieldably urging said pencils to their retracted positions; a manually slidable substantially V-shaped operating member in a side opening slot formed in said casing; said operating member having an inner leg portion for selectively engaging one end of said pencils when in their retracted positions at one end of said slot, said operating member being movable to the opposite end of said slot to push the engaged pencil to its extended position; and a pawl on said container for releasably engaging said operating member when in its pencil extended end of said slot.

2. A mul-ti-colored ball point pencil substantially as recited in claim 1 wherein said pawl is yieldably urged to a position to engage said operating member to hold one of said ball point pencils in its extended position.

3. A multi-colored ball point pencil substantially as set forth in claim 2, including spring means carried by said operating member for yieldably urging said operating member into engagement with said pawl.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,858,881 Caruana May 17, 1932 2,170,761 Maucher Aug. 22, 1939 2,519,502 Rem Aug. 22, 1950 2,526,990 Augenstein Oct. 24, 1950 2,604,876 Steuck July 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 416,291 Italy Nov. 23, 1946 431,721 Italy Mar. 4, 1948 253,969 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1948 

